Fly From Heaven
by LazyGC
Summary: It may take a miracle to save Uzumaki Naruto from the darkness, but Sabaku no Gaara doesn't think he can coax Uchiha Sasuke back from the dead. NarutoxGaara. NOT NarutoxSasuke. Full summary in profile.
1. Prologue

Prologue: At the Feet of Those He Couldn't Save

{Three Months After Shukaku's Extraction}

Gaara started awake to find himself drenched in cold sweat. He gasped and flung back his cobalt silk sheets, stumbling for the window. His fingers fumbled with the curtains, then the latch, but he lost patience and shattered the panes, the frigid desert air hitting him with the subtlety of a brick wall. It shocked him back from his sleep instantly.

There were few who knew of the whole and true nature of the bond Gaara had shared with the demon Shukaku, and even fewer who knew of the effects the beast's removal had caused.

Removal. Hah! Such a clean word for such a grueling and torturous process.

The seal that had 'bound' Shukaku within him had been shitty at best; to this day, Gaara did not understand why Chiyo had used a seal meant for tea kettles on a baby- an unborn baby, of all things. The seal withered and weakened, and was as effective as keeping the demon at bay as a paper wall is at blocking sound within days of his birth. Truly, it was not the seal that withheld the demon... Gaara's consciousness and physical being that became the only defense the world had against the beast.

And so Gaara remained in a permanent waking state. Even so, the demon's presence altered his body permanently; he became a child attuned to the desert, bound to it. The demon mutated his structure and marked the boy with pale moons for eyes, cloaked in black skin.

Their minds had remained unmeshed until Gaara came to believe that he and Shukaku were all but one and the same. When he first came to view himself in this light, Gaara fell into sleep with a smile upon his lips.

He was seven.

Shukaku unleashed his fury upon Suna, and feasted upon both the flesh of his enemies and the mind of his medium. As Gaara continued to use Shukaku's power over the years, the fine line of consciousness that separated his thoughts from the demon's blurred. Soon, their minds were entwined, and when Gaara killed, the blood he spilled was as a drug to his tainted psyche.

So when the elders of Suna dubbed the incident as 'Shukaku's removal,' Gaara had to reel in his rage. The Akatsuki had not pruned Shukaku from him like some bud on a bush; they'd torn him in twain. Pain such as he had never known had wracked his body and mind as the demon was ripped away and pulled out, and he'd faded into terrible, blissful whiteness.

The pain had not ended with his death, for the wounds in his mangled psyche remained.

Over the past few months Gaara had come to three conclusions about himself and the world around him. He loathed sleep and the nightmares that came with it, he could not tolerate quiet, nor could he stand White.

The first came as no surprise, but the others were-- for lack of a better word-- troublesome. Indeed, his distaste for sleep was expected, and so he usually took drugs to induce dreamless rest, but his village had endured a rough season weather-wise, and the drug that he used was now ridiculously difficult to come by, so he had cut his dosage in two to set an example.

Few cared to know what dreams Sabaku no Gaara experienced that drove him to doping up on two pills a night.

The second issue, which he was adjusting to more easily than the first, stemmed from the constant murmurs that had once dwelt in the deep recesses of his mind. The complete quietness of his mind was both a blessing and a curse. All the effort and willpower it had taken to suppress Shukaku's suggestions was now no longer being expended, and so Gaara found that he was unable to relax; the lack of sound made him jumpy while the absent need for the mental strength he'd built up left him restless. And it reminded him of the White.

This third little problem caused both he and his siblings quite a bit of worry. Within the first week of his return, he'd had their home emptied of white, save for the white of his robes, which he avoided wearing whenever he could. The White, as he called it, had taken root in his other little problems as well; it haunted his dreams and thoughts of it crept in on him when the air was soft and still and silent.

He hated it. He knew, now, that it was not the darkness one should fear, but the White. That gleaming, empty abyss that sucked you deep into despair even as your body convulses and shrieks of agony spill from your gaping mouth and at some point you become half aware that you're dying...

That hideous, clinical White...

Gaara told no one about it. He had more important things to do than waste his time with the psychological prodding of medics who would shiver behind their clipboards, wondering if he would snap. He was the Godaime Kazekage, ally to Konohagakure, and his friends' lives would be hard enough even with Suna's aid if Akatsuki planned to acquire the Kyubi. No, he could not show any sign of weakness now, not with his own Council pestering him to stealthily abandon the Leaf. Again.

Bastards.

'_I am in a very foul mood,'_ he mused. It was not quiet now; the winds of Suna howled, rushing southwest towards treacherous cliffs- the sheer drop that separated Suna's land from the sea.

He often took solace in the biting breath of his desert's wind.

His desert.

{Much Later}

Had circumstances been different, this day might have been a happy occasion. The storm had passed; things were calm once more. But the calm was a curse. Now there was nothing to do but pick up the pieces, which meant that there was no way one avoid the bitterness of reality.

There were no smiling faces for the newly appointed Hokage, no congratulations. There were no shouts of laughter from the children in the village. The people staggered as if the gods had reached down and back-handed Konoha in punishment for some unknown crime.

Loss had a hold of them all. It hung over their heads like a great, gangly vulture, and none were lost deeper in the scavenger's shadow than their lost leader.

"Damn it!" Shikamaru snarled, bashing his fist upon the Hokage's desk and adding yet another crack to its rudely abused surface. "You wanted people to look to you! Well, they're looking to you now to lead them! Do something!"

"Go away."

The strategist's lip curled back in disgust. "What's wrong with you? You're so caught up bemoaning what you've lost that you've forgotten all about what you still have," he said.

The office door slammed, and a second crack appeared, running from the lower hinge to the base.

The Hokage did not react.

...

Yet, Nara Shikamaru would be damned before he let his village fade away into dust like tinder in a fire. He had promises to keep and responsibilities to uphold, the most important of which lay in a crib beside its mother's cot.

The strategist plodded towards the- his lip curled in anger- encampment set up at the foot of the great rock that bore the likenesses of the noble Hokages who'd died for a village which was all but non-existent now. True, the vast majority of the populace had survived, but many of Konoha's best had not and almost none of their homes remained standing.

Konoha was financially bankrupt and emotionally wrung-out.

If their newest Hokage was not wallowing in some abnormal depression, this would not be so great a concern. It was as if there was some great weight pushing down on the man.

Bah. Shikamaru had other things to worry about.

"Oi," he droned, halting in front of a sleeping bag. "Oi- tch, troublesome- oi!"

"Having a nice discussion with my bedding, Baka-sama?"

Women.

"Well?" Temari said.

This had better be worth it. "I want you to send word to the Kazekage. I don't care what you tell him, just get him here. I don't know what's wrong with the Hokage, but it's not medical and nothing's snapped him out of it- not even stimulants- so there must be something wrong with, um, It," he finished lamely. Why did she have to look at him like that?

The blonde crooked an eyebrow. "Well, I'll tell him something, but you Konoha shinobi are even more pathetic than I thought if you can't even clean up this mess with the help we're already giving you."

"Quit being difficult. Switch places with him in Suna for all I care, but we need him here. He's the only living person with some amount of experience with demons we can trust with something like this." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Another headache coming. Wonderful.

"Fine, fine," she sneered at him. "I'll leave tonight, but I doubt he'll be able to do anything. You don't even know if that's what's wrong with the little bundle of not so sunny sunshine."

The woman was intolerable. He bit his tongue to keep back foul speech.

She held his eyes for a while longer, then snorted, and went to gather her things. "He'll come. There's no way he won't. But if you poor little babies here in Konoha get in over your head, Suna will not be dragged down with you. My brother may feel obligated towards you guys, but Suna is not."

"No need to tell us that."

...

Suna shinobi- and those of the variety that wielded wind in particular- were very speedy, and so it was two days later that Sabaku no Gaara arrived at the ruin that had been Konohagakure, his sister having arrived the night she left. Arrangements for his absence were made and he carried himself across the land like no other could, spending less than a day's journey sprinting through forest.

It was still difficult to believe that this mess of wood and cloth and metal and stone had been a village. Only the walls and a few unsound buildings still remained, with a few new structures having been erected.

Horrible. It was the fate that might have befallen his own village, had he not put his people's lives above his own and used every ounce of strength to shield his home from that bomb.

Gaara could not remember that fight very well. The blast from the Akatsuki terrorist's sneak attack knocked him senseless, and he had forgotten much of what he'd done that week.

No matter. He wasn't here to think about that, though he was here because of that. The redhead did not like feeling indebted to others.

"Gaara-sama!"

The Kazekage peered out over the rubble and spotted a pink thing hailing him. He put forth a burst of speed and appeared by the thing's side. "Haruno-san. And I would prefer it if you would call me 'Gaara.'"

"Psh," she waggled her finger at him as she rocked on the balls of her feet. "Only if you call me 'Sakura' or 'Sakura-chan.'"

"'Gaara-sama' is fine," he muttered, and she giggled and gestured for him to sit on a rock.

"I'll get right to the point. Not too long ago, Naruto shut himself up in one of the surviving rooms. At first, we thought it was some extreme reaction to Sa- Uchiha Sasuke's death. But it became apparent about a week ago that there was something else going on. I tried giving him stimulants to boost his mood, but he seems almost lethargic, and then shortly after Temari-san left to fetch you, he attacked Shikamaru."

Gaara's eyes narrowed, and then his face went carefully blank. "Attacked?"

Sakura nodded, lowering her voice as she elaborated. "Shikamaru hypothesized that the Kyubi is responsible for whatever it is that's wrong with Naruto. He's been going to see Naruto several times a day. He said that he was trying to convince Naruto to snap out of it, but really, that idiot was actually trying to provoke a reaction from Naruto. Apparently he went too far, and Naruto went berserk. The building Naruto had holed up in? It's not there anymore."

Well, shit. Gaara floundered, searching for something to say. "That's not good."

"So," the medic hesitated. "How much do you know about demons?"

"More than most, but that doesn't mean I'll be able to do anything. If this is the result of Kyubi's influence, then the root of the problem might lie with the seal that is binding the demon. And I'm not an expert on seals."

"Well, yes, but you're probably one of the few who can determine exactly what is wrong," she pointed out. "And one of the few we in Konoha can trust with the Hokage's well-being. We're vulnerable enough as it is without asking foreign shinobi to come in and fix up our leader. They'd attack us as soon as they got wind that something's wrong with him." She sighed, and then glared up at him. "You will help, right?"

Gaara shrugged. "I'll do what I can, of course. If you have any information on his seal or the demon itself, I'd like to learn anything I can before seeing Naruto."

...

The toads blinked at him.

"We're not supposed to give anyone information about it."

"Be reasonable," Gaara argued quietly. "This is an emergency. It's not like I'm skilled enough with sealing jutsu to actually do anything with the information. Nor would I want to; Naruto is my friend and in my opinion the world would be better off without such jutsu."

Gaara was at the edge of a pond, talking to a group of very large toads. They were each so different in appearance that looking at them together was almost too much for the eyes.

After much deliberation, the toads finally acquiesced.

"Sealing the Demon Fox was no walk in the park," one of the toads began.

"It took three separate jutsu, but only the first causes death."

"You don't need to know about that one."

"Well, it might help."

"No, he should--"

"Could just one of you speak?" Gaara snapped. The toads were starting to remind him of his Council.

One of the toads hopped forward; Fukasaku, he recalled. "The one who should really be talking to you isn't here. Gerotora-chan bears the key to the seals that trap the demon in Naru-chan. But we'll tell you how the seals work." The toad paused for a moment, apparently having a penchant for the dramatic. "The jutsu that made sealing the Fox even remotely possible was the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, and that jutsu was lost when Sarutobi-chan perished. It was that jutsu which sealed Orochimaru's arms away and killed Sarutobi-chan. At any rate, after this was performed, two Four Symbols Seals were used to trap the bijuu inside Naruto. Now, this is important; Namikaze-chan created these seals so that only the Kyubi's Yin chakra is inaccessible to Naru-chan. This means that the Kyubi's Yang chakra is supposed to be all that Naru-chan can access. Some time ago, Jiraiya-chan tampered with the seal with Gerotora-chan's help."

Gaara's eyes widened in disbelief. "Did he have a death wish?"

"Well, it did very nearly result in his death. And it was rough on Naru-chan, as you can imagine. But Jiraiya-chan believed that Namikaze-chan meant for Naruto to take control of the Kyubi's chakra to complete; that, and it _sort of_ worked, but in the end Naru-chan lost complete control and the seals broke altogether. The seals were renewed, but you can imagine the chaos caused before that."

"If the seals are renewed, why would Naruto have trouble at this point?"

"Beats me," the toad said.

The Kazekage's lips tightened. He stood, bowed politely, and strode off towards the encampment near the Hokage Monument.

...

Gaara sat and thought carefully, but could come up with nothing. There was absolutely no reason why the seals shouldn't work, unless...

Gaara had never had an easy time keeping Shukaku at bay. During the full moon, the demon's voice had resounded in his head like a gong, demanding blood.

Shukaku had been sealed, but every aspect of the sealing seemed different, save upon one or two points. The sealing jutsu used upon Gaara had killed Karura, while the sealing jutsu used upon Naruto had killed the 4th Hokage- but the Hokage had used two other seals to finish his work.

Had Gaara been so unstable because he lacked proper seals? If that was the case, what would cause Naruto similar problems? Was it the tampering of the seal? Maybe.

Gaara was starting to wonder, though, if the initial weakening of the seals had anything to do with this strange behaviour of Naruto's. From what he gathered, the Kyubi was very, very clever-- especially when compared to some of Its relatives-- and if the 4th Hokage could split the Kyubi's chakra and seal it in different ways...

What if the Kyubi had waited for the seals to be weakened or removed, then split some part of Itself and hidden that part away? Then, when the rest of it was resealed...

If that were the case, the gods knew what it was doing to Naruto.

Well, it was possible. But whether or not that was the case, Gaara couldn't do anything about it. He sighed and then called out to the nearest shinobi. Rock Lee.

"I don't suppose you have any messenger birds about?"

The chunin shook his head. "Sorry."

"Well, then. I have a mission for you."


	2. Messenger

AN: Completely forgot this for the prologue. Sorry.

This story won't be exceedingly long, but it will have multiple chapters, angst, etc, and the rating will go to mature after I get far enough into it.

Please note that I'm taking some liberties with the plot, like most FF writers. I don't plan on elaborating on everything the characters vaguely refer to for a reason; I don't know what Kishimoto plans to do.

Also, I will not put up disclaimers. This is FF, people. There should just be one big disclaimer on the home page or something.

* * *

Chapter 1: Messenger

_The idea that anyone, let alone a human, could utterly subdue and take control of a demon is absurd. Even with the aid of protective seals, a jinchuuriki's mind cannot easily resist the will of the demon that inhabits them. Of the bijuu, those whose tails tally up to equate an odd number are the ones most harmful to their hosts; first, third, fifth, seventh, and possibly ninth. Those with an even number of tails, for whatever reason, appear to be less destructive to those they are bound to. This is most obvious in the differences between the effects on hosts of the first compared to hosts of the second._

_The Nibi appears to be somewhat cooperative, whereas the Ichibi better resembles a parasite, so vicious in its nature that its jinchuuriki is unable to sleep without the demon feeding upon his or her mind. While the Nibi is easily controlled, the Ichibi must be forcibly subdued in a constant battle for control._

_One theory is that the seals used to bind the even and odd tailed demons differ in some way, so that the odd tailed demons are either agitated or somehow have more control than their brethren. Another is that it depends solely upon each individual seal; perhaps the traditional seals for the Ichibi are inferior to the seals that bind the Nibi._

_But one thing is certain._

"A demon held down only by the will of a jinchuuriki will surely take full possession of their host. No one person can withstand the might of a tailed beast."

"What was that, Gaara-sama?"

The Kazekage stirred from his reverie. He sat with Sakura, finishing up some tea before his inevitable meeting with Naruto. "A quote from a book," he said. "Tell me about the effects the Fox has had upon Naruto in the past."

_On the Kyubi no Kitsune: Any information pertaining to the Kyubi no Kitsune is minimal, as no jinchuuriki has been seen and the demon itself rarely appears. Given that all jinchuuriki that have been observed have shown genetic mutations of some sort, it is reasonable to assume that a host for the Kyubi would have some physical characteristic that distinguished them as such._

_Added note: According to Suna shinobi working within Konohagakure, the Kyubi no Kitsune attacked Konohagakure on October 10__th__. The Yondaime Hokage used his life to seal the beast within a child in order to prevent Konoha's annihilation. According to reports, the chosen host does indeed have the mark of a jinchuuriki; black marks on his face, as though the demon raked its claws across his cheeks. The jinchuuriki is male. No other information can be garnered; the Konoha shinobi are suppressing all other data._

_I predict that the child will be consumed by the demon in a matter of months._

"Actually, no one witnessed the first incident. It happened on a mission in the Land of Waves. But from what little we gathered, the sheer force of his chakra shattered his opponent's ninjutsu."

"What triggered the loss of control?"

_3__rd__ of November_

_Chiyo,_

_You are hereby summoned to appear before Sunagakure's High Council on the tenth of November to discuss a matter of the utmost importance._

_Your expertise in the obscure is required._

_Yondaime Kazekage_

"It was... Uchiha Sasuke passed out and Naruto thought he was dead."

"The resulting emotion must have given the demon a chance to exert control over Naruto. But you didn't see it."

"No. The second time was during the Chunin Exam in the Forest of Death. Orochimaru attacked us to get at Uchiha Sasuke. And that was the first time I saw a little of it. His strength was unreal. And he was fast. But Orochimaru did something; hit his stomach."

"Over his seal?"

"I don't... maybe, but Naruto seemed fine during the third exam."

"Then it is irrelevant; during his fight with the Hyuga, he was able to draw forth some of the demon's chakra at will."

"Naruto told me he met Jiraiya-sama during the Chunin Exams. He probably had something to do with it."

_11__th__ of November_

_Chiyo,_

_Karura and her brother are being difficult. I've sent him off. You will be summoned as soon as her water breaks._

_Do not forget that so long as Konoha is in possession of the Kyubi, we are not safe. We need the power of the Ichibi._

_Yondaime Kazekage_

"Naruto's never talked about his fight with Sa... Uchiha-san, but we think he used the Kyubi's chakra because his skin was raw and burned in places."

"A chakra cloak. It can be dangerous to the host."

"It was during the time that Naruto was away that Jiraiya-sama altered his seal. I saw the result of that later."

_12 of December_

_Chiyo,_

_Come immediately. She attempted to abort again. I don't want the future host damaged._

_Yondaime Kazekage_

"When he came back to Konoha, it was obvious that the seal was weakening for some reason. He seemed unable to control it at all. When we were on the mission to help you, Kakashi-sensei and Naruto went after the blonde Akatsuki member; the one with the explosives?"

"I knew him."

"Kakashi-sensei told me that he saw that chakra cloak? And that it _changed_ Naruto. Longer teeth and nails, marks around his eyes, and the chakra took a shape, with ears and three tails. Naruto had made shadow clones, and they said that it was burning them and dissipated. Kakashi-sensei managed to bring Naruto back to his senses with something Jiraiya-sama gave him, but not before Naruto started attacking. Kakashi-sensei said that Naruto could not recognize friend from foe and lashed out at him."

"Why was Naruto so angry?"

The chunin gaped at him. "You're joking, right? Didn't anyone tell you what happened?"

"It didn't seem very important," Gaara admitted. "At the time, I was more concerned with Shukaku's loss, and when we returned to Suna, I had to arrange for the deaths the Akatsuki had caused."

"The Akatsuki guy was using you as a lure for Naruto. He kept taunting us about our failure. I think he was trying to rile Naruto up so that he could catch him off guard and capture him, but it backfired."

"It would."

"Naruto was probably going to end up with four tails, but Kakashi-sensei stopped him. When we went after Orochimaru, we were assigned two different teammates: an ANBU shinobi, Yamato, and one of Danzo's shinobi, called Sai. During that mission, Naruto formed four tails, this time because of Orochimaru's taunts about Uchiha Sasuke."

"And?"

"His... when I saw him like that, it reminded me of you a little. That shape you took. But it was... the chakra around him condensed, and it was like he was a small demon fox. I saw his skin burn off, and there was blood in the chakra. At one point he hurt me, and his chakra was like a poison. I have no idea how his body managed to withstand it."

"The Kyubi would have been healing him even as it harmed him, but all the same, such damage if received too often would have long-term effects."

"He used some technique; he made a globe of chakra and then ate it and spat it out, like a giant pillar of lightning. It broke through three all but impenetrable walls Orochimaru put up to defend himself. If Orochimaru had been anyone other than Orochimaru, I think he would have died."

Well, this wasn't good. Gaara had hoped his sand might defend him from the demon's powers if circumstances took a turn for the worse, but now it seemed unlikely.

"But it turns out that Yamato-taichou could use some of the powers of the Shodai Hokage, and so he was able to force the demon back. I had to heal Naruto." Sakura went quiet for a moment, then smashed her fist into the wall behind her. It cracked ominously. "What the Hell was the Yondaime thinking?! Sure, it worked the way he wanted it to, but look at what it's done! Why didn't he just seal the demon in some object and have it buried somewhere?"

"Maybe he was desperate," Gaara offered, "desperate enough to form some delusion that a demon could be controlled if a jinchuuriki simply tried hard enough. Maybe he thought that his blood might make Naruto somehow better than other jinchuuriki. Maybe he didn't want to think of what might happen if something went wrong."

_23__rd__ of December_

_Chiyo,_

_I have drawn up a plan for the conditioning of the jinchuuriki. You will go over it._

_Yondaime Kazekage_

"After that, Naruto could never exert full force in training or in battle without having to beat back the demon. Yamato-taichou had to be with him the whole time he underwent training to manipulate wind. You heard about what happened when the Akatsuki attacked Konoha, right?"

"Yes," Gaara's lips tightened. He'd been furious and disappointed with Naruto when he'd heard that the fox had been completely unleashed. "Have any countermeasures been prepared in event of the worst case scenario?"

"Shikamaru hasn't come up with anything for that, but he thinks we can handle almost everything else."

"He needs a new seal, I think," the redhead sighed. "Only one person who might be able to give him one comes to mind, but he is in Suna and likely there to stay."

_19__th__ of January_

_Chiyo,_

_You are to come to my living quarters._

_Yondaime Kazekage_

"Do you know why the Shukaku was sealed within me?"

Sakura gave him an odd look. "Chiyo-baa-sama said that the Kazekage wanted a shinobi strong enough to pull the village through the weaknesses of economic and military deficiencies."

"She would tell you that." Gaara's brow furrowed. "After the Kazekage's body was found, I broke into his quarters and went through his papers. Certificates, letters... I wanted to find the records that pertained to me. I stumbled across a recording of an emergency meeting called on November 10th; that was nine weeks before my birth. The Council discussed the danger of not having a jinchuuriki to combat Konoha's forces, should they choose to use the Kyubi against Suna."

"Why are you telling me this?" Now she leaned back, trying to size him up. How subtle.

"I am not bitter about it; it is because Naruto may have to be taken to Suna, and it goes without saying that my Council is not particularly fond of him. They feel Konoha is to blame for my existence. It is petty and erroneous, but... my point is that Naruto will be in danger in Suna. Though your resources are strained, I suggest choosing one or two of your people to guard him."

"You're awfully chatty today."

The corner of Gaara's mouth turned up. "When the subject is Naruto it is not very difficult. I would like to see him now, if you do not mind."

Sakura nodded and stood, slapping dust off of her clothes. "It's not exactly safe. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if Yamato-taichou was here, but he's off on mission. He should be back soon; even if Naruto wasn't having issues, we need him to help repair the village."

"Never mind; I can handle it."

...

Lee was not as speedy as a messenger hawk, but he was the next best thing, and soon he was passing through the narrow corridor that led to Sunagakure. He flashed his papers at the jounin guard, a young woman with hair of an eccentric shade of green, and asked for directions. Lee wondered if her hair was dyed but was too polite to ask.

"Ebizo-sama's residence?" the young woman repeated. "I know it. I will take you to him."

He bowed and rattled off his thanks.

"Don't be long," the other guard muttered- another woman. Lee could not make out any of her features, save her gray eyes. "I'm not covering for you if you aren't back by shift-change."

His guide shrugged and then started down the steps into the village. Her step was light and measured, and he perceived that she was skilled at taijutsu like him.

The walk was awkward, and Lee tried to make conversation with little success. "So, what is your name?"

"Yakootah."

"Oh. That is a nice name. I also have a mission request to deliver to the tower."

"Fine."

"O-okay."

He was very glad when they arrived at a path that led up towards a vast estate and Yakootah stopped.

"Ebizo-sama lives here," she said, and then started back the way they had come.

Lee forgot to thank her.

...

A servant led him through the estate, across an exotic garden and eventually into a vast room.

Ebizo had been old when Lee had first met him, but now he seemed brittle and ancient, as if he was merely biding his time till death came knocking. He crouched over a round pool, shaking hands clutching a fishing rod. Lee delivered Gaara's letter, only to have it shoved back in his face.

"My eyes are going and whoever wrote this must have used the smallest brush ever made. Read it to me."

"H-hai." Lee unrolled the paper and cleared his throat.

_To the Honoured Ebizo-sama,_

_I request that you lend me your aid in a matter of grave importance that threatens the peace between the Five Nations. Uzumaki Naruto, ally of Suna and the current Hokage of Konoha, is also the jinchuuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune, and it appears that the seals binding the demon are failing. Your experience in the field of sealing jutsu is now unmatched in Suna and Konoha, and your aid in this matter would be most appreciated. If you accept, send your reply along with your named price for your services to Konoha. Details of the situation will then be provided._

_Godaime Kazekage_

"You brats really can't solve your own problems, can you?" the elder sniffed. "Fine, fine; when are they coming?"

"Eh, I am afraid Kazekage-sama did not specify an exact date, neither in the letter nor to me."

Ebizo huffed and shook his fishing rod. "Then why are you still here? You're bothering me."

...

Temari and Kankuro did not seem particularly thrilled with the news Lee delivered. He would have liked to stay and chat with them, but Konoha needed him back as soon as possible, and so he made a beeline for the steps that would take him back out into the open desert.

"Hey, hey, wait up!" someone squawked at him. Lee turned to see one of the oddest shinobi he had ever met stumbling towards him. The boy tripped over his own clothing and slammed face-first into sandstone. "Ow, owwie. Damn fucking damn it. Ouch..."

"Are you all right?" Lee assumed that the boy must not be very skilled. He would have thought that the klutz was a civilian if not for the glint of metal around his neck. A hitai-ate.

"Busted up my pants... expensive... damn... what?"

"NothingIhavetogobye!"

The boy lifted his head in time to see a green streak vanish over a sand dune. "Wait a minute! Ugh, damn."

"He was delivering a message to Ebizo-sama," Yakootah commented from the shadows. "I take it you know the contents? You said you had something to do at Ebizo-sama's."

"Yes, yes; the fossil made Chic-san read the letter to him," the boy snorted. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone with such repugnant fashion sense. But whatever. You're gonna love this, Maysa'; it's beyond shady."

"What is it?" the other guard said.

"There's something wrong with their Hokage, so they're bringing him here."

Gray eyes crinkled at the corners. "You're right, Saad. That's interesting."

Yakootah gestured at the guards nearing for shift-change. "Let's get everything ready, then."

...

"Just in here," Sakura muttered, pointing at a door at the end of a passage in one of the newly built structures. "Sorry that everything's so bare, but most possessions couldn't be salvaged."

"It will make things easier for me, anyway," Gaara said. "Will you be waiting here, then?"

Her pink head bobbed. "Just in case."

Internally, Gaara scoffed. If something did happen, she would just get in the way. She was remaining purely for sentimental reasons. "I will not harm Naruto, and if he harms me, I'll have only myself to blame. Go along; you have more important things to do."

She looked like she wanted to give him lip at first, but caught sight of the hat strapped to his back and thought better of it. Gaara dismissed her and slipped down the hall, letting his sandals tap against the floor so as not to surprise Naruto, but he didn't bother knocking, and instead sent sand about the door to check for traps before having it pick the lock.

The door swung inwards, and Gaara found that the room was lightless save for the gleam of the moon through a few small, high windows. He made out little but the shape of a table or desk and what might have been a cot in the far corner.

"Naruto?"

* * *

AN: Horrors, I've made some OCs. I'll state ahead of time that I worked for about a week on developing their profiles and none of them will be paired with anyone, primarily because I hate pairings involving OCs. I plan on posting their profiles once I'm further into the story; I don't want to give too much away. Their names are Middle-Eastern and it took me quite a bit of time to find names for them that I liked. Saad is my favorite; I'm actually kind of proud of him.  
A little bit about these first two chapters; I like having Sakura talk with Gaara. While she's not a character I particularly like, I find her interesting and often underestimated as far as fandom goes. I think this is almost solely due to her childish interactions with her teammates. I blame Kishimoto. She could be a real kick-ass character if he got his sexist head out of his- er, yeah. Anyway, I think that only a few characters would be able to get Gaara to open his mouth more than a few times in a conversation, and Sakura is one of those. She suited my purposes, and I like making fun of her pinkness. I should have put in a line about how she clashes, lol.

Also, though I'm following Gaara for now, I'll probably swap to Naruto in the future.


	3. Swagger

AN: I forgot to mention a few things. This fic and the chapters of this fic are all from a song by Toad the Wet Sprocket. Also, I have always hated that the characters shout out the names of the techniques they use, so I'm going to just put the names in italics. They aren't going to be spoken. There will be translation list at the end of every chapter for the non-English words I incorporate.

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Here are my replies:

**IXLoveXGaaraXNaruto** and **crayoly-poptart**: Gripping and interesting? Really? Thank you!

**Tainted**: Do you dislike Sakura? XD I want more information on the 4th Kazekage, too! At least a name! I wonder if any of the current Kages knew him. And you silly. Almost all of my chapters will end with a cliff-hanger.

**Kathlaida-princess**: I'd have liked it if Kishimoto had elaborated on how the seals were made and how they work, but it doesn't look like he ever will. But that just gives us creative licence. :P

* * *

Chapter 3: Swagger

To be a jinchuuriki is to bear the weight of the world's demons upon one's back. If it were simply the negative influence of the bijuu itself, the fate might not be so terrible, but a jinchuuriki must deal with other cruelties, the most vicious of which is perhaps the ostracism. A jinchuuriki is a leper with all of the fear and isolation but none of the sympathy. Bearing a creature that has murdered countless masses means that the jinchuuriki often becomes a scapegoat for the frustrations of those who have suffered at the hands of a demon.

To be a jinchuuriki is to weather the collective hatred and revenge of a callous society, and so Gaara, who had been targeted countless times in the name of vengeance, learned from a very early age that betrayal and revenge were very powerful negative forces, powerful enough that they posed a threat to his supposedly indomitable being, because while Yashamaru, his father, his mother, and even his siblings had not physically harmed Gaara, their collective psychological treatment scarred him as a child far more deeply than Shukaku could ever have done so.

It was his experiences with his family that enabled him to relate so deeply with both Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

Gaara was more than familiar with the thirst for revenge; for many years, not a day went by that he did not dwell upon his own desire for it. This was in part due to Shukaku's influence, as the demon longed to slaughter the ones responsible for Its containment. But Gaara had also witnessed first-hand the self-destructive nature of revenge in Yashamaru's demise, and the jinchuuriki was far more interested in preserving his own life than taking his father's.

He had thought to bide his time until he was strong enough to eradicate the Kazekage, but in a shocking turn of events, the course of his life changed forever. In one fell swoop, his father was dead and a couple of children who had never even killed before managed to fight him to a standstill.

Gaara had, in a very real sense, lost everything that day, exchanged it all for something that would seem beyond insignificant to anyone who was not a jinchuuriki.

An _idea_.

"Naruto?" the redhead called again, frowning a little. He wasn't fond of repeating himself. "Will you come out? I would like to speak to you about something."

There was a rustling and a murmur coming from the area around the table. Sakura had warned him beforehand that Naruto had been abnormally quiet and terse with others of late. He would have to exercise tact.

"I came to aid Konoha in any capacity that I may. Haruno-san informed me that you seem unwell, and so I thought I might come to speak... with..."

The air suddenly seemed hotter. Gaara could smell faint wisps of fireless smoke.

"Naruto," he said flatly, unimpressed.

"Leave," the blonde in the shadows commanded. "Now."

Gaara hesitated, but Naruto's chakra wavered and then flared unexpectedly and he thought better of it. He gave a nod in the general direction of Naruto's voice, "I'll return when you're more amiable, then," and gently shut the door.

He hadn't thought the blonde would be so temperamental; it seemed that either his friends had not been concerned enough or Naruto's condition—whatever it might be—was worsening. The Kazekage sighed and sent a bit of his sand under the cracks in the door, ordering it into the nearest ceiling corner.

_Daisan no Me._

Naruto's smoky chakra alone was cause for caution; if the Konoha shinobi hadn't had their hands tied with restoration projects, Gaara had no doubt that Naruto would probably be in confinement with this level of instability.

He swept out of the building and sought out Nara Shikamaru.

...

"What are you wearing, anyway?" Maysa' stared in disbelief.

"Auntie, it's the latest fashion."

Saad had something of an obsession with clothes, but his spontaneity and flair for the dramatic resulted in the development of rather odd tastes. He'd dyed his hair—again—and it was now a rich navy, but he was wearing—

"Orange?" Yakootah lifted an eyebrow as she rolled up a supply scroll. "Why orange?"

—black trousers and matching tunic with tangerine bright sky-patterned embroidery and an orange and tasselled scarf. The whole ensemble was still scuffed and torn from his fall near Suna's entrance.

"Whatever," he grinned. "Auntie's just jealous of my extensive wardrobe."

"It wouldn't be so eye-catching if your hair wasn't blue," Maysa' sneered at his thick, well-tended braid.

Saad blew at his bangs, only for them to fall back in front of his face. He rolled his eyes and tucked the loose hair behind his ears. "Like I said; you're jealous. You could never pull off anything but red and black 'cause you're such a sourpuss. But me and Re-Re--"

"Don't call me that," Yakootah said.

"And it would be, 'Yakootah and I,'" Maysa' said.

"Nags. Anyway, we can pull anything off, don't you think?"

"No," Yakootah said.

"You look awful," Maysa' said.

"Inti mafish mukh," Saad said.

"You foul little brat!" Maysa' wrapped her fingers around his ungrateful throat, only to find that he had armor under his scarf.

Saad's grin widened. "You suck."

"I'm done," Yakootah announced, sliding the scroll into the knot of the bow of the olive sash on her left hip, the tails of the bow sweeping the ground softly. She was fully armed, her signature gloves already snug on her calloused hands. "This took far too long, but I'll take care of that one. We shall meet in Tochigi-shi."

She vanished.

"I guess that means we have to get ready, too?" Saad grumbled. "Fine, fine. I'll go get my stuff."

His aunt reached out and clutched his braid, tugging on it viciously. "Don't take long; I want to leave within the hour. I feel uneasy splitting us up like this."

The boy dashed off, tripping over his ridiculous scarf. Maysa' slipped a few scrolls and other tools into the pouch clipped to the back of her belt, then put her face mask and bandanna back on and threw her brick-red wind cloak over her clothes.

'_Fath is a flamboyant git. He'll probably take the whole hour to prepare,'_ she sighed, checking herself in the mirror. Black and red and steel gray stared back at her. _'But it doesn't matter. This is our chance, and he won't get in the way. As much as he's tried to hide it, I know he wants this as much as I. It is long past time that __Leila Bint Mika'il Bin Numair Alzahabi and Fath Bin Fudail Bin Fakhir Abbas paid a visit to Konoha.__'_

...

Gaara found Shikamaru dozing in a sleeping bag. The former jinchuuriki eyed him for a moment, and then kicked him lightly in the side.

"Get up, you lazy ass."

Shikamaru grimaced, grumbled, and tossed his arm over his eyes. "Temari's rubbing off on you; I haven't heard you talk like that for years."

"I see no reason to be formal with you, _nakimushi._"

"Damn y-aaah-it," the chunin yawned conveniently. "I still can't believe your sister told you about that. I don't suppose you'd return the favour and give me any dirt on her?**"**

"Classified information."

Shikamaru chuckled and sat up. "You never do useless things; what do you need so badly that you've gotta tear me away from my favourite pastime?"

"It would be nice to like sleep as much as you do," Gaara commented, falling to one knee so they could speak eye to eye. "I wanted to talk to you about Naruto."

"Figures." Shikamaru felt around until his finger closed around a band and gathered his hair up in a messy ponytail. "Have you seen him yet?" Gaara inclined his head, and then leaned back as Shikamaru yawned again, providing him with a rather unpleasant view of the genius' tonsils. "What do you think?"

"I think he should be taken to my village for help as soon as possible. I want full details on his behavior before this point and your recommendation on who should guard him during his stay in Suna."

"Shino and Kiba," Shikamaru responded instantly. "They work well alone, better together, and they'd complement any other ally well. They'll also be more useful in that capacity than they are here; they're more suited for missions than restoration.

"As far as Naruto goes... his attitude went downhill pretty fast. We thought it was normal because of that mess with Sasuke; Naruto'd been pretty down for a while. But then he started getting troublesome," and here Shikamaru smirked, "You know, kinda like your sister. Bitchy."

Gaara glowered at him.

"A-anyway, Sakura and I tried to snap him out of it. I bugged him more than Sakura since she's been pretty down herself, and yesterday I guess I went too far." Shikamaru scowled. "He started muttering to himself about four days ago and I realized he was probably talking with that _thing_, so I asked him about it. He got pissed off and nailed my shoulder with that red chakra; I needed burn treatment." He laughed hollowly. "Thought I was gonna die at first."

Gaara felt a bit disconcerted. Naruto's insistence that Gaara leave might have been due to his inability to stave off the Kyubi's influence, but if Naruto was talking to the demon out loud, it meant that everyone within a hundred leagues of Konoha was in peril. Gaara had only ever physically spoken to Shukaku when he was particularly murderous.

The sky was starting to brighten, and Gaara's eyes flickered. He could now see Naruto with _Daisan no Me_, but the Hokage was asleep, collapsed over his desk.

"That is all, then," he said, getting back to his feet. "Does Konoha require any more assistance from Suna?"

Shikamaru waved his hand lazily. "You've done enough. Without you guys, someone else would have wiped us off the face of the planet by now. You know, Kazekage-sama," he mused. "You really got slick. One Hell of a leader, and diplomat, for that matter. You should be proud."

Gaara didn't know what to say to that, so he simply nodded his head in acknowledgment and wandered off to find Aburame Shino.

...

"You are an embarrassment."

"But it's Saturday, Auntie! See? It's way past midnight and this is my Saturday outfit!"

"I hate you."

"Whatever. I look badass."

"Identification, please?" the guard at the mouth of the canyon asked politely, and then his eyes widened a little as he got a better look at the mismatched pair before him.

The girl was only an inch or two taller than the boy, and she was dressed as if she were headed out on an S-rank mission. But the boy stood resplendent in what looked like a costume for a comedy. He swaggered up to the guard in a black and white long-sleeved shirt, over which was thrown a royal blue coat bordered with gold kanji. The coat's neck was clasped tightly around his throat. A small crossbow and a string of scrolls were clipped to golden tasseled ropes that served as the boy's belt.

He was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night.

"Fuck!" the boy said. "Do you have the papers?"

"Yes." The girl's gray eyes crinkled into an out of place smile. "Give me a moment."

"Wanna see a card trick?" the boy offered as his companion rummaged through the pouch strapped to the back of her waist.

"Um," the guard said, but the boy had already whipped a deck of cards tied together with a silver ribbon out of his coat sleeve. The cards were shuffled, and then spread out and held towards the guard.

"This is really cool. Pick one and look at it _veeeery_ carefully, then take the deck and reshuffle. I'll close my eyes so I can't cheat, okay?"

The guard shrugged, and pulled out a card at random. Four of—

He fell to the ground, dead.

"_Maaan_," Saad whined. "Now my deck's incomplete."

...

Rock Lee halted for a moment and uncapped a bottle of water. Regardless of the cold night, hydration was vital, and now really wasn't the time to try and break his personal record for the Suna to Konoha sprint. He was already out of the harsher desert and now stood at the foot of a large hill covered in tinder-dry grass, so a break would hardly hurt. He tipped the bottle back and swallowed.

_Doton: Yari Wa._

Lee threw himself upwards instinctively as the earth around him molded into a dozen spears that lunged at his body. He landed some five meters away, his water abandoned.

"Not bad," a woman's voice said at his ear, "but this is the end."

Steel flashed in the corner of his eye and he ducked down and to the right, grabbed the arm of his attacker, and flipped up over her head.

A bright spring green registered in his mind.

"You!" he exclaimed. "Why are you attacking me? Suna and Konoha are allies!"

"_Why_ I am attacking you is irrelevant," Yakootah pointed out as she struck out with an arm laced with long, frosted blades. "It should be enough that I _am_ attacking you."

She was armed with long, bladed gloves the likes of which Lee had never seen. One blade protruded beneath and to the side of each pinkie down past the wrist and ended seven centimeters from her elbow. Blades were secured with bands around each wrist that wrapped into her palms and wound between her fingers. The bands were tipped with four centimeter length blades for punching.

Yakootah sliced at him with the outermost blade and used the momentum to crouch and kick back. Only then did Lee see that matching seven centimeter length blades protruded from the back of each ankle on her close-toed boots.

Dark brown leggings. Lime green halter top. Aside from the underlying mesh shirt, the bow at her left hip, and her and hitai-ate, she looked nothing like any Suna shinobi Lee had ever seen.

He frowned and drew a kunai.

...

"Naruto, please come out."

...

"I'm so worried about you."

...

"I don't want to lose you, too."

...

"Naruto."

...

The sun's rays had just touched the carved visage of the first Hokage when Gaara noticed Naruto was acting odd via _Daisan no Me_. The blonde was glaring at the door, and every once and awhile he appeared to shout at it.

Gaara murmured a hasty, "Would you excuse me?" at Inuzuka Kiba and then rushed off with _Suna Shunshin_, but too late. He watched as bubbling red chakra burst out of Naruto's body and twisted the Hokage's features into a terrible snarl, and while Gaara's jutsu could not pick up sound, he and everyone else in Konoha heard Naruto's shriek of rage. The room exploded and Gaara lost control of his visual jutsu.

He arrived in time to see the demonic red mass that was Uzumaki Naruto fleeing westwards into the forest.

"Shit." Gaara swore quietly. They should have contacted him before Naruto's condition had so horrifically deteriorated. He burst into the now smoking building to find Sakura stuck to the wall like a beetle on a card, one of the desk's legs piercing the right side of her gut. "_Shit!_"

* * *

Translations:

Daisan no Me – Third Eye.

Inti Mafish Much – Arabic - You have no brains. 

Tochigi-shi – Name of a town I made up.

Leila Bint Mika'il Bin Numair Alzahabi – Arabic – Leila, daughter of Mika'il, son of Numair. Family name is Alzahabi.

Fath Bin Fudail Bin Fakhir Abbas – Arabic – Fath, son of Fudail, son of Fakhir. Family name is Abbas.

Nakimushi – Crybaby. Lol.

Doton: Yari Wa – Earth Release: Spear Ring.

Suna Shunshin – Sand Body Flicker.

AN: Blaaaaah. I stabbed Sakura.

Okay, this chapter turned out a bit differently than I thought it would, but I think it's all right.

I'm going to clarify something really quickly; my three OCs are using aliases. That is why they refer to each other by different names in their thoughts.

Now, back to the chapter. I'm not showing much of Naruto on purpose. There will be a lot more of him in the upcoming chapters, I promise. I know it's frustrating to you NarutoxGaara fans, but I need to establish the plot! There must be plot establishment!

Next, Shikamaru. Not my favorite character, but I love his interactions with other characters. Shikamaru's the type of guy who can get anyone relaxed around him, I think.

Gaara may seem a little OoC here, but keep in mind that we haven't really seen much of him after the time-skip and we do know that he's a lot more cheerful- well, for Gaara, anyway. Considering that he seems to be much closer to his siblings, I decided to portray him as having their personalities rub off on him a bit. Also, Shikamaru seemed quite familiar with Temari, so I figured it was reasonable to assume that at the very least, Temari has talked to her team about him. Blah, blah, blah.

If you can't tell, Saad/Fath is my favorite of the OCs I've made.

A note on their true names. I gave them Arabic names for a reason which I'll elaborate on later. It literally took me HOURS to come up with their names. I suggest you look up the 'Arabic name' page on Wikipedia if you're interested.

I'll be posting the meanings of their names and their lineages later on.

Feedback- particularly on what you think of my portrayals of the characters- is more than welcome.


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